ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Eric Kober There’s No Hope for the Center-Right in New York’s Mayoral Race Reformers’ failure to gain traction can be explained, in part, by the political bases of Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo.

Posted By on June 25th, 2025

https://www.city-journal.org/article/theres-no-hope-for-the-center-right-in-new-yorks-mayoral-race

Many center-right commentators argue that the 2025 New York City Democratic primary candidates have failed to confront the city’s core challenges: excessive spending, high taxes, and heavy regulation. They contend that residents receive inadequate services in return and that the city, rather than fostering economic competitiveness, relies on its fading prestige to retain affluent residents and major firms in finance and professional services. This view has more influence online and on podcasts than among the electorate. Investor and philanthropist Whitney Tilson, who has made many of these arguments, is polling at 1 percent in the primary.

The center-right’s failure to gain traction can be explained, in part, by the coalitions behind the two leading candidates. Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo has assembled a base made up of groups largely content with the status quo and looking to him to preserve it. His principal challenger, Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, draws support from those dissatisfied with the current system—but who see the solution as more public spending and higher taxes.

A recent analysis by local political commentator Michael Lange demonstrates how this situation materialized. Lange divides New York City’s State Assembly districts into seven categories, ranking them from most favorable to Mamdani to most favorable to Cuomo.

EDUCATION Comments turned off

The Persistent Presence of Absence The public school exodus continues unabated. By Larry Sand

Posted By on June 25th, 2025

https://amgreatness.com/2025/06/25/the-persistent-presence-of-absence/

The fact that many children are ditching America’s public schools is undeniable. Most recently, Nat Malkus, Deputy Director of Education Policy at the American Enterprise Institute, reported that while chronic absenteeism spiked during the COVID pandemic, it remains a serious problem. In 2024, rates were 57% higher than they were before the pandemic. (Students who miss at least 10% of the school year, or roughly 18 days, are considered chronically absent.)

Malkus goes on to explain that in 2018 and 2019, about 15% of K–12 public school students in the U.S. were chronically absent—a number so high that numerous observers and the U.S. Department of Education are labeling it a “crisis.”

In total, nearly one in twelve public schools in the United States has experienced a “substantial” enrollment decline over the last five years.

The problem is especially egregious in our big cities. In Los Angeles, more than 32% of students were chronically absent in the 2023-2024 school year.

In Chicago, dwindling enrollment has left about 150 schools half-empty, while 47 operate at less than one-third capacity.

Additionally, schools identified by their states as chronically low-performing were more than twice as likely to experience sizable enrollment declines as other public schools.

In February 2025, FutureEd disclosed that data from 22 states and the District of Columbia for the 2023-24 school year show significant differences across grade levels, with absenteeism particularly severe in high school.

“In most states, 12th graders have the highest rates of chronic absenteeism, often far exceeding state averages. In Mississippi, for example, the overall absenteeism rate was 24%, but among seniors, it soared to 41%. Several other states have senior absenteeism rates above 40%, with rates in the District of Columbia and Oregon exceeding 50%.”

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

New York City’s Highly Dubious Mayoral Race

Posted By on June 25th, 2025

https://www.frontpagemag.com/new-york-citys-highly-dubious-mayoral-race/

I’ve seen widely loathed radicals win mayoral races in Chicago and Los Angeles in dubious ways. The LA race that gave the city Mayor Karen Bass had a whole lot of late-arriving ballots show up just in time twice.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I don’t believe that election was legitimate. I don’t believe this one in New York City, my two hometowns, was either.

Yes, ranked choice voting was designed to produce victories for fringe radicals. And yes, the media showered Zohran Mamdani with uncritical praise. Finally, putting up Cuomo, a widely hated figure, as the unifying anti-Zohran figure was the worst possible choice imaginable.

Sure.

But the polls I’ve seen showed Cuomo winning women, voters over 50, and black and Latino voters, and working class voters, while Mamdani performed well only with white young college educated voters.

NYC’s demographics have not tilted so dramatically that white hipsters are not a decided majority.

So two things might have happened here

1. The polls were wrong. It’s happened before.

2. The turnout for the Columbia for Hamas crowd might have been really high and really low for everyone else.

And those are the legitimate things. I don’t need to bother spelling out the illegitimate ones.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Arming Authoritarian Regimes in the Middle East Why did Israel have to destroy American-made jet fighters in Iran? by Moshe Phillips

Posted By on June 25th, 2025

https://www.frontpagemag.com/arming-authoritarian-regimes-in-the-middle-east/

When the Israeli Air Force destroyed two F-14 fighter jets on an Iranian airbase on June 16, many Americans asked the same question:

How did Iran—a sworn enemy of both the United States and Israel—end up with top-tier American-made military aircraft?

The answer, as uncomfortable as it is, should serve as a powerful warning. The U.S. sold those F-14s to Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when Iran was ruled by the Shah and seen as a strategic American ally in the region. But when the Shah’s regime fell and Islamic extremists seized power, those very same fighter jets fell into the hands of America’s adversaries.

This is not ancient history. It is a lesson in the long-term risks of arming authoritarian regimes—especially in the volatile Middle East—and it is more relevant than ever today.

In recent years, the U.S. has agreed to sell its most advanced aircraft, the F-35 stealth fighter, to countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Bahrain and other authoritarian regimes in the Gulf have also expressed interest in acquiring similar technology. These sales may be seen as diplomatic wins or short-term economic boons, but they represent profound strategic risks.

America’s most sophisticated military assets should not be placed in the hands of authoritarian rulers whose grip on power is inherently unstable. Today’s “friendly” regime can become tomorrow’s adversary. As we saw in Iran, it only takes a single revolution or coup for U.S.-made weapons to be used against American interests—or those of our allies.

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Mamdani Wins Stunning Upset in Democratic Primary as Cuomo Concedes Race The democratic socialist state Assemblymember from Queens is on track to be the Democratic nominee for mayor in a ranked-choice election.

Posted By on June 25th, 2025

https://www.thecity.nyc/2025/06/24/mayoral-election-first-round-results-cuomo-mamdani/

Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani is on track to secure the Democratic nomination for mayor, after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo conceded to him Tuesday night following the first round of ranked-choice primary votes.

With 95% of precincts reporting two hours after polls closed at 9 p.m., 44% ranked Mamdani as their first choice while 36% chose Cuomo first and 11% had city Comptroller Brad Lander.

Mamdani emerged to raucus applause at his election party on a brewery rooftop in Long Island City, about 20 minutes after midnight.

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Alvin Bragg, Manhattan prosecutor who took on Trump, wins Democratic primary in bid for second term Associated Press

Posted By on June 25th, 2025

https://www.aol.com/alvin-bragg-manhattan-prosecutor-took-011702400.html

 Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the prosecutor who oversaw the historic hush-money case against President Donald Trump, won Tuesday’s Democratic primary as he seeks reelection.

Bragg defeated Patrick Timmins — a litigator, law professor and former Bronx assistant district attorney — to advance to November’s general election. About 70% of registered Manhattan voters are Democrats.

The first-term incumbent will face Republican Maud Maron, who was a public defender for decades and previously ran for Congress and NYC’s City Council as a Democrat.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

At Least 5 Reasons Why Trump Should Reject A Nobel Peace Prize

Posted By on June 25th, 2025

https://issuesinsights.com/2025/06/25/at-least-5-reasons-why-trump-should-reject-a-nobel-peace-prize/

For a brief window this week, President Donald Trump was out of the running for a Nobel Peace Prize, after a Ukrainian lawmaker withdrew his nomination on Monday for not ending the war there, and before Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., nominated him on Tuesday for the ceasefire between Israel and Iran.

You can imagine the guffaws and hair-pulling from the Trump-is-Hitler crowd at the thought that anyone would see him as a suitable candidate for this prize. But as much as we’d love to watch their heads explode as he walked up to accept the award, we think Trump should take himself out of the running.

Sure, he probably did more for world peace when he bombed Iran’s nuclear sites than any president since Ronald Reagan did when he left Michael Gorbachev high and dry at Reykjavík and sparked the end of the Soviet Union.

But why in the world would Trump want to join the ranks of other Nobel Peace Prize winners?

This is an award that was given to Yasser Arafat, a man once described as the “Father of Modern Terrorism” and who, two years after taking home the prize money, declared that: “We plan to eliminate the State of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian state. We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion … We Palestinians will take over everything.”

It was given to Jimmy Carter, now the second-worst president in U.S. history after Joe Biden, whose weakness led to the Iranian revolution, a year-long hostage crisis, and Soviet Union advances around the world.

And does Trump really want to share an honor bestowed on Al Gore, whose only real claim to fame is getting fabulously rich by spreading lies and misinformation about “global warming”?

He’d also be joining the likes of Rigoberta Menchú, whose autobiography was later attacked as fraudulent and who the Center for the Study of Popular Culture described as a “Marxist terrorist now exposed as an intellectual hoax.”

NATIONAL SECURITY AND DEFENSE Comments turned off

Why Trump Must Now Ban the Muslim Brotherhood by Khaled Abu Toameh

Posted By on June 24th, 2025

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21700/ban-muslim-brotherhood

The letter [from the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Salah Abdel Haq] shows that the Muslim Brotherhood has officially endorsed the Iranian regime’s slogans of “Death to Israel!” and “Death to America!”

The [Muslim Brotherhood’s] founder, Hassan al-Banna, accepted the utility of political violence, and members of the Muslim Brotherhood conducted assassinations….

The takfirism doctrine’s endorsement of “extreme violence” is why several Islamic countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Mauritania have banned the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood has dozens of branches, offshoots and affiliates in many countries, including Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Libya, Morocco, Kuwait, Mauritania, Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Belgium and the United States.

Qatar has publicly funded and supported Islamist groups, and its state-owned Al-Jazeera TV network continues to serve as a platform for the Muslim Brotherhood.

“What is needed today is a genuine dismantling of the Muslim Brotherhood’s machinery in the Arab world: Its platforms, associations, online accounts, and cultural facades. The Muslim Brotherhood is still alive and kicking, just waiting for the right moment to reproduce itself through more violence….” — UAE columnist Hani Salem Masshour, al-ain.com, June 20, 2025.

It is time for the US government to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. There is no reason why Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, is designated by the US as a terrorist organization, while the Muslim Brotherhood itself has not been banned.

FOREIGN POLICY, HISTORY Comments turned off

Obama’s Doomed and Dangerous Deal Daryl McCann (May 2015)

Posted By on June 24th, 2025

https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/from-our-archives/wiser-men-iranian-deal/

Back in December 2013, former US secretaries of state Henry Kissinger (who served from 1973 to 1977) and George Shultz (1982 to 1989) wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal titled “What a Final Iran Deal Must Do”. This missive appeared a week after President Obama signed the 2013 interim nuclear agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran, one that purported to temporarily freeze Tehran’s decade-long advance towards military nuclear capability. Kissinger and Shultz warned that the Islamic Republic’s quest for the nuclear bomb would be enhanced by the 2013 interim agreement. On April 12, 2015, a week after Obama celebrated his latest “breakthrough” with the Mullahs of Iran, the so-called framework for a preliminary nuclear agreement, Kissinger and Shultz published a sequel in the Wall Street Journal, this time titled “The Iran Deal and Its Consequences”. The worst fears of the former secretaries of state appeared to be confirmed by the latest turn of events:

“negotiations that began 12 years ago as an international effort to prevent an Iranian capability to develop a nuclear arsenal are ending with an agreement that concedes this very capability, albeit short of its full capacity in the first ten years.”

The problem, in the opinion of Kissinger and Shultz, is that the P5+1 (UN Security Council members plus Germany) negotiations have progressively legitimised Tehran’s thirteen-year-old quest for nuclear weapons capability. Between 2003 and 2013 Tehran “defied unambiguous UN and IAEA demands and proceeded with a major nuclear effort, incompatible with an exclusively civilian purpose”. During this time Iran “periodically engaged in talks but never dismantled any aspect of its enrichment infrastructure or growing stockpile of fissile material”, notwithstanding six Security Council resolutions passed between 2006 and 2010. The interim agreement reached on November 24, 2013, had provided the Islamic Republic with an estimated $8 billion in sanctions relief in exchange for a temporary halt to some aspects of its nuclear program. Tehran was not being asked to dismantle or wind back its vast nuclear infrastructure, let alone lengthen the breakout time necessary to acquire nuclear weapons capability. Thus, the 2013 interim agreement effectively “recognised as baseline” past Iranian misconduct including uranium enrichment and plutonium production, all previously condemned by the United States and the international community as illegal and illegitimate.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The Lawless Left and Its Liberal Camp Followers by Matthew Continetti

Posted By on June 24th, 2025

https://www.commentary.org/articles/matthew-continetti/lawless-left-riots-liberal-followers/

You’ve seen the image: A shirtless young man, wearing a mask and gloves, waves a Mexican flag while standing on the roof of a defaced car. He’s ringed by flames from a nearby burning vehicle. The smoke obscures a traffic light hanging in the distance. It’s a desolate, anarchic landscape—more fitting for science fiction than a spring evening in America’s second-largest city.

This was Los Angeles in early June, when street protests over federal immigration raids turned violent. For four days, masked men battled local police. They hurled stones and shot fireworks. They obstructed highways, torched taxis, and looted shops. LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said his officers were “overwhelmed.”

Liberals shrugged.

Mayor Karen Bass, Governor Gavin Newsom, Representative Maxine Waters, and the unemployed Kamala Harris were all preoccupied with someone 3,000 miles away: President Trump. They downplayed the chaos while blaming him for it. They demanded Trump relinquish control of the California National Guard and remove the 700 Marines he deployed to Los Angeles. They called for ICE to leave town.

Above all, they preened. They issued statements oozing with moral superiority. “Demonstrations in defense of our immigrant neighbors have been overwhelmingly peaceful,” wrote Kamala Harris with characteristic vagueness. “The Founding Fathers didn’t live and die to see this kind of moment,” Newsom said in a televised speech.

He’s right, but not in the way he thinks. The Founders didn’t live and die to see anarchists flout the law in defense of illegal immigrants. They wrote a Constitution establishing federal supremacy over the states. They quashed rebellion and were, shall we say, tough on crime. The Founders would have had no problem recognizing anarchy and declaring it impermissible. Why does Newsom?